Microsoft · Amazon · Elizabeth Warren · New York · Fortune Technology
How a book that inspired Warren Buffett and a $14,000 side hustle helped billionaire Bill Ackman get started as an investor
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Billionaire Bill Ackman has built a $35 billion hedge fund, led high-profile overhauls at companies like Chipotle, and boasts an eye-watering investment portfolio through his firm, ranging from Amazon to Microsoft.
Key facts
- A well-timed 2020 bet on corporate credit markets during the COVID-19 crash reportedly turned $27 million into $2.6 billion in a matter of weeks
- As a teenager, Ackman told his dad that he’d be a millionaire by 30, have $100 million by 40, and be a billionaire by 50
- However, in 2026, the company has recently been underperforming, with Pershing Square Holdings down 11% year to date this February compared to the S&P 500’s roughly 1% gain
- The 60-year-old hedge fund mogul has also grown his own net worth to $11.5 billion, and his influence has grown commensurately
Summary
“One early formative experience was at Harvard, where I took a job at Harvard Student Agencies selling advertising for the Let’s Go travel guides—a series of books where Harvard students wrote reviews of hotels around the world,” Ackman recently told editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell during Fortune podcast Titans and Disruptors of Industry. “It was a commission-based business, and I turned out to be a good salesman,” he continued. As a teenager, Ackman told his dad that he’d be a millionaire by 30, have $100 million by 40, and be a billionaire by 50. Then, after graduating, he returned home to work for his father, who cofounded and ran New York–based commercial real estate firm Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group.